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Celtic Ritual Magic
__TOC__ History Muggle ideas of magic are based on old ritual magic which has been lost for centuries. It has fallen into the realm of rumour and superstition even among wizards in the modern age. Muggle mythology is based on magical history now forgotten by wizards. The feasts Greeks would have for their gods and the stories of gods and magic were all based on actual events. Back in those times muggles and wizards lived side by side, open about the existence of magic. When the muggle and magical worlds eventually split, which in large part came with the growing popularity of Christianity and it's violent opposition to the pagans, magic was largely erased from the minds of muggles out of a desperate act for self-preservation. Unwilling to completely wipe their memories as it would have erased their entire histories the memories were then changed. Important wizarding figures were turned into the gods, names changed, and it was all rewritten as mythological belief in the muggle mind. The wizards went into hiding to escape extermination. Over the next few centuries wizards learnt to harness magic in new ways. Ritualised used fell out of fashion and the further magic use evolved the more it was left behind until it was nothing but a vague history. By the 17th century the idea of ritual magic was nothing but a myth to wizards, and one they largely associated with muggles. While the history of that time survives in modern time as muggle mythologies of long since dead civilisations current belief in such magics is non-existent. The few who remember those magics supposedly existed have put them down as being ancient, lost magics which are impossible to discover, though various magical scholars have tried. What the majority of people did not know is that ritualised magic not only survived but evolved on its own path. Surviving witches and wizards of the Celtic faiths, the Stregheria of Italy, many African tribes, Mayans, Aztecs, Incans, Native Americans and the Māori of New Zealand are among its primary practitioners. The vodun tradition of muggles borrows heavily from older versions of the ritual magic, the rituals and methods dating back to the time when magical slaves were brought over from Africa. Pracitioners Muggles can, in fact, use ritual magic to their benefit if they were trained how. In order for that to happen a wizard or witch would have to be willing to tutor the muggle in the methods to channel magic. When instructed properly a muggle can use ritual magic, though to a much diminished effect than if done by a wizard. Muggles are unable to craft the magics the way a properly trained witch or wizard could, but they can call on them. Outcomes can vary and are very unpredictable because of their inability to fully harness and control the magic they do manage to call upon. These days the practice and use of ritualised magic is passed down family lines. The information is closely guarded by those who have it, fearing it's misuse or corruption at the hands of those who chose to forget it. The faiths of those who use ritual magic tend to be matriarchal and because of this the knowledge is only usually passed on from mother to daughter. Over time it has been realised that the magic responds much more to females than it does to males, and for this reason they are rarely instructed in its use. Males who use ritual magic can only ever become about half as proficient in its use as a female may. The use of the magic is very closely tied to spirituality and as such one cannot be divorced from the other. If someone leaves the faith they lose the ability to wield the magic with any degree of success. Given how many people follow these faiths currently the number of practitioners is very small, making the secret of its existence and use much easier to keep. Humans, however, are not the only species that practices ritual magic. Various creatures among the Unseelie are also practice ritual magic. The Seelie once practised it as well but over time came to believe themselves too good for us low forms of magic when they have other forms at their disposal. Being magical creatures whose home is a faerie mound inside the earth, they have a much closer tie with magic and are able to harness it in ritual magic much more effectively than humans can. Some of the more benevolent among the Unseelie had taken to tutoring favoured Celtic witches over the years. This has always been a very precarious situation as any witch who does not do as instructed or turn their back on their mentor has been known to come to a rather abrupt and messy end. Art of Celtic Ritual Ritual magic involves drawing magic from the earth directly, without use of a wand, and into the practitioner's body. While skill is required to accomplish such a feat the real skill necessary is being able to channel the magic once it is inside a person. Ritual magic is done completely internally. A spell worked by multiple people requires a spiritual link which is mirrored physically. The spell workers open their minds and link them together. Hands are usually linked to form a circle for the physical link between all involved parties. Spells are worked mentally, shaped and formed before the energy is sent back out of the worker's body. The energy goes back to the earth but also goes out. Most often the magic is sent up, skyward, rather than outward though the latter has been done when the intended effect is to be placed on people within proximity such as a nearby village or those gathered together. Blood is often used as a conduit for strengthening spells of particular importance. In such cases an athame is used to draw blood from each person involved in the spell's working. The blood is gathered in an iron bowl until the bleeding ceases on its own. At the spell's end the athame will receive all of the energy intended for the earth. One witch will be singled out to then absorb the blood with the athame which is then driven into the earth. Once the blade is buried in the soil the blood is carried with the magic back into the earth, returning it to its origin. Magic as most wizards use it is generally channelled by a wand, then expended. Once it is used it is gone, though magic does regenerate on its own so this is not particularly a problem. Ritual magic does not burn magic, however, it recycles it. All magic used for the spell is returned from wherever it was borrowed. Magic done with a wand has immediate effect. A person casts a spell for light and the tip of their wand illuminates. The same spell with a wand will garner the same result every time so long as it is performed correctly. Ritual magic is not as predictable. Ritual spells are, for all intents and purposes, a request. The magic used is recognised as being alive and therefore fully capable of making up it's own mind what it does or does not want to do. Some fanatical practitioners view the use of a wand as enslavement of the magic as it has no choice in what it does. While a spell is intended to have a specific effect and help bring a certain end about it may not come to be. When the magic is driven back into the earth it is returned to its place of origin and is then allowed to decide whether or not it wishes to comply with the request as it was made. The effect of a ritual spell being completed could be instantaneous or it could take up to years to come to be. Ritual magic is often used for long term effect or for effect which will not pass for a period of time. The completion of a ritual spell is sometimes put down to being wild magic by wizards who do not know of ritual magic or how it works. When a person is properly trained in ritual practices of magic they become bonded to the earth and it's energies much more than the average witch or wizard is. They are trained to become attuned to earth energies and magics so that they may pull them from the earth and into themselves for the purposes of spell working. Some attune more than others, however. Ritual practitioners who had achieved this level of equilibrium with nature have historically been known to be mistaken for elementals as they take to a particular element so much they can hear it speak, sometimes in whispers and sometimes in song. Those most closely tied to elements may hold entire conversations with a tree, not speaking to the tree itself but to the magic that lives inside of it. Unfortunately this also means when the earth is hurt (such as in a forest fire) they can also hear it scream. Those who take to a particular element (sometimes it happens with more than one) a person often has trouble with the opposite element. Someone attuned to the air, for example, may always trip over rocks, roots and uneven earth while a person attuned to water may get more badly damaged from a burn and not warm as quickly from a fire as others would. The muggle myth of the elemental is based on these people. Uses and Drawbacks Ritual magic is potentially very dangerous. It is not unreliable, precisely, so much as it is moody. There are no guarantees what you will get with ritual magic, or if you will get anything at all. The magic has it's own mind and as such will interpret a spell for itself. Once the borrowed magic for the working of the spell is returned to the earth all control the spell worker(s) has is over and control is fully in the realm of the magic itself. A person may wish to be taller and use ritual magic to achieve such an end, for example. Unfortunately the magic may simply grant a natural growth spurt or it may have you drawn and quartered. All spell effects are meant to be permanent. There's not an undo button with this naturally and short-lived magic is nigh impossible to cast through such means. In order to undo anything done with ritual magic another spell would have to be done to request that change which may be granted or denied. If someone used this to curse a person it'd be the sort of curse that is never lifted or only lifted in the case of something specific happening to do so (a la sleeping beauty, for example). Anyone wishing to give someone a headache for a day, nauseate them for a week, or have temporary insomnia would be gravely amiss to turn to ritual magic for such ends and ought to stick to wand waving to accomplish such things. Ritual magic is more likely to split a person's head open after years of excruciating and incurable pain, force them to vomit violently every time they see a particular food or person, or never sleep again. While ritual magic may be used for all the same ends as typical, wand wielding magic may it is often only used for larger ideas. Love, luck, vengeance, cursing bloodlines, easing grief and bringing someone peace are all common uses. A wand allows a caster control over the amount of magic used for a spell, but ritual uses no wand and therefore any and all control over how much magic answers a spell is impossible to predict. One would not use ritual magic for illumination in a room or to light a fire because while the intended effect could come about the sun could also not set for three days and your house could be lit on fire rather than just the logs in the fireplace. The effect of the answering magic is rarely on a small scale. Ritual magic, however, can be used to greater effect to open portals, hide relics, and create a familiar. The entries into the faerie mounds were created by ritual earth magic. Lycanthropes, it is speculated, may have been created through a ritual having taken a very different interpretation than the one intended when a person wished to create a familiar. Ritual magics also hide the temples belonging to the faiths who practice these magics. In the UK there is one hidden in Ireland, Scotland and Wales each. The magic itself decides who it will or will not allow to find the temple. Other structures and locations may be similarly hidden but have laid dormant for centuries, leaving their existence only to speculation. Anyone attempting to use this sort of magic runs the risk of undesirable outcome. The less trained a person is the more likely the magic is to take a wildly different interpretation than intended. Muggles and males run a higher risk of being the target of the magic's wrath if it does not wish to grant the request as made. The magic has been known to attack a poorly or untrained practitioner who attempts to utilise ritual. It is, one could say, resentful of the unskilled calling upon it unless it is for purposes of training. People have died in very unusual and cruel ways because of the magic's wrath. Meta Specialists in Ritual Magic are not open for application at this time, nor are practitioners. This is intended for plot purposes. Any questions about the use of this magic for a plot may be direction to the mod. Category: Magical Disciplines